Elephants Are a Minor Detail
by Elphaba C. Snow Thropp
Summary: In which Maura is the man.
1. Not Like the Movies

**Elephants Are a Minor Detail**

**By Elphaba C. S. Thropp**

**Chapter I: Not Like the Movies**

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><p><em>And I hope the sun shines and it's a beautiful day. And something reminds you, you wish you had stayed. You can plan for a change in the weather and time, but I never planned on you changing you mind. So, I'll go...<em>

_~Last Kiss, Taylor Swift_

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><p>She and Jane slept together last night.<p>

It had happened before, but this time it was different. One of them was nursing a crushed heart and the other was sleeping like it was a sport when she was supposed to be comforting the crush-hearted. But Maura didn't mind. She found out a few months ago that she enjoyed watching her friend sleep as if she didn't have a care in the world. It was a refreshing sight.

However, the reason she was even able to watch her friend like this caught up to her and her eyes watered as a fresh, overwhelming wave of disappointment figuratively punched her square in the chest. The work she did to suppress her sob was for not as it forced its way out of her tightened throat anyway. She buried her face in her pillow so she wouldn't wake Jane.

"Maura, don't cry."

Shocked, the medical examiner jerked her head up from her pillow to see concerned brown eyes peering at her from behind a curtain of curly dark brown hair. Seeing that caused a shaky smile to appear on her lips.

"How long have you been awake?" She questioned, blinking rapidly to keep her tears at bay. It was useless though. She never had control of her emotions when it came to Ian.

"Um… like thirty two seconds," Jane mumbled sleepily, tilting her head to the side so that it resting on her pillow.

"That's very precise, Jane," she commented, wiping the tears from her red, puffy eyes.

The detective cleared her throat to help rid it of its sleep induced huskiness. "Well, it was guestimation. Thirty two was the number of invisible circles you were drawing on my arm."

"Oh." Maura glanced down to see her index finger doing exactly that and pulled it back. "I'm sorry I woke you."

"You didn't wake me," she assured her, pulling the blonde against her. "And I didn't say you had to stop."

"Oh," the honey blonde woman nodded, snuggling into her side and continuing her ministrations, this time on a bare, tan, protruding coxal bone. She blinked lazily and sighed in contentment.

"Care to share?" Came from the brief silence.

Maura emitted an unladylike, uncharacteristic snort. "It's nothing. I'm being ridiculous. I knew he would leave. I even anticipated it, but… it was different this time."

"He asked you to go with him?" Jane inquired, running a hand up and down her friend's arm.

"It's not that," she shook her head, sucking in her bottom lip to stop the trembling. "He never asks me to go with him and this time he asked… he asked me to… marry him." The last words were hardly even a whisper, but Jane heard them.

The brunette could practically hear her own eyes widening and she jerked back. "What? You said no?"

Maura pulled her back into position easily and as calmly as she could manage. "Of course I did, Jane."

"Why?"

It was only then that the doctor ceased drawing her circles though her hand remained where it was. "My answer may distress you and when you get distressed you get angry and when you get angry you pull away from me and I need you close to me right now, Jane. I can't offer an answer that is anything less than truthful, but I also can't upset you right now."

"And if I promise not to become distressed?" Jane asked, feeling her heart accelerate the tiniest bit. She was sure the other woman felt it as well.

An exhausted sigh filled the room. "Jane, you have a habit of asking me questions then getting the answer and wishing you hadn't asked me in the first place. Do you want that to be one of those times?"

"It won't be, Maura," the Italian whined deliberately. "Besides, now I'm really curious. Is it something so sweet I'll get a cavity or is it something you think will make me uncomfortable?"

"I like to think it's a bit of both actually," Maura laughed humorlessly, speeding up her production of circles when her once steady hand had begun to shake.

"Please, just tell me. I'm not gonna let this go until you tell me."

The M. E. pulled a shuddering breath through her teeth, but decided to do this without eye contact. It would be much easier this way. "I just want you to know that what I'm about to say is not to be taken lightly. I'm not in some alternate state of mind because of Ian. I know what I'm saying and I mean it so please, don't play this off, Jane."

It was several seconds before she got any kind of response. "Okay, Maura. Go on."

"I love Ian. I'm _in_ love with Ian. I've wanted to marry him for… God, years, but when he finally asked me, something was wrong. Something had changed but not with him, it was with me. If he had asked me two years ago, I would've gladly become Dr. Maura Faulkner. But now…" She blew out a breath, trying to find a better way to word this. "I can live without Ian. That has obviously been proven. It's sometimes difficult to do, but I can do it.

"You know that phrase 'before you think you can't live without someone, remember how you lived before them'?" Receiving a nod she continued. "Well, I have thought very extensively about it and came to the conclusion that I honestly don't know how I survived before you came into my life, Jane. When I thought about not being able to see you or touch you or hear your voice every day, I couldn't even breathe. My heart quite literally stopped at the suggestion."

"You…" Jane could barely find the words she was so overtaken with a myriad of emotions that she tried to place appropriately. "You said no to a marriage proposal— to the love of your life, because of me?"

Maura wasn't even trying to hide her tears anymore. She sat up and looked her friend in the eye properly, pleading with her to understand. "I just couldn't… I can't… be without you. Ian may be the love of my life, but you… are my _everything_. I never pictured every minute without you in it and when I _did_ think about it…" she sucked in a harsh breath. "It terrified me to the point that I almost called at two thirty in the morning."

"You could have, you know." At the look of confusion, she clarified, "called me, I mean."

"Oh, Jane, I couldn't have. You were nursing an injured toe after a minor procedure of which you had no pain medication. You needed the sleep."

The response was so sweet and so incredibly Maura that the detective couldn't help the small, sad smile that made its way to her face. "I'm so sorry you had to go through that, Maura."

"It's not your fault, but it did make me think about our relationship." The doctor sat up fully in true criss cross apple sauce form next to her friend resuming the circles on her hip. It was only then that she took notice of the other woman's low riding shorts.

"What about it?" Jane asked, looking up at her with so much blind trust in her eyes that it made her hesitate, which of course, the brunette noticed. "What is it, M?"

"I want you to live with me." The words tumbled out of her mouth before she could stop and ease into the request.

The Italian blinked owlishly in response. Maura wanted to her come and live here… with her… in her house… just the two of them… in her house… alone. The concept itself wasn't that hard to wrap her mind around –she was there enough as it was, it was the fact that she'd asked. She could've written it off as her feeling lonely after Ian, but the M. E.'s earlier words echoed in her head, _I know what I'm saying and I mean it_.

"You mean that?" Were the first words out of her mouth after the confession.

Maura nodded, dropping her gaze for a moment. "I do. If you don't want to, I understand, but if you do want to, we don't have to tell anyone. You could even do it gradually so as not to arouse suspicion."

"Do I get to think about it?" She inquired, lifting her hips ever so slightly when a pale finger stopped the circles to rub lightly at the flesh. "I mean, moving in together is a bit of a commitment."

"I'm committed to you, Jane." The words were whispered and vulnerable and she cursed herself for sounding so pathetic. She was not this type of girl, not for anyone, not even for Ian, but everything was so different with Jane.

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><p><strong>Review, per favore.<strong>


	2. Your Guradian Angel

**Elephants Are a Minor Detail**

**By Elphaba C. S. Thropp**

**Chapter II: Your Guardian Angel**

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><p><em>And now that I'm strong I have figured out how this world turns cold and it breaks through my soul. And I know I'll find deep inside me I can be the one. I will never let you fall; I'll stand up for you forever. I'll be there for you through it all even if saving you sends me to heaven.<em>

_~Your Guardian Angel, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus_

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><p>Two or so hours later, the pair found themselves cleaning up the kitchen after a late brunch at eleven thirty.<p>

They were on their way back upstairs to wallow and contemplate an offer respectively when they heard the door open. They turned around to see Angela Rizzoli entering with Jo Friday who yelped happily and ran to her owner for morning greetings.

Both Jane and Maura bent down to receive licks from the overly excited puppy who was telling them all about her walk in a series of barks and whines.

"Janie, did you just get here?" The older Rizzoli wondered closing and locking the door behind her.

"No, Angela, we just woke up and had brunch," Maura answered before Jane even opened her mouth. She didn't miss Jane's raised eyebrows when she did so though.

"Just woke up? Together?"

Maura nodded, speaking again before Jane could. "Yes. Last night was very stressful for me and Jane was being a good friend."

"Yeah, what she said. Ma, what are you doing here?" The detective asked, standing up from her squatting position, bringing Maura up with her.

"I live here, Jane, unlike you," Angela pointed out.

"For your information, you take residence in the guest house and this is not the guest house. Also, I helped pick out two fifths of the stuff in this whole house and I am somehow here more than you are so I live here more than you do and you didn't answer my question." She didn't fail to notice the little smile that had appeared on her friend's face during her little rant.

"Fine, Jane, since you must know everything, I was coming to see if Maura wanted to go shopping with me. There, are you happy?" That was her mother; she always did have a flare for dramatics.

"Maura's not going shopping today. Her schedule has been filled by me and the bed all day." At her mother's wide eyed expression, she backpedaled. "Not like that, Ma. I meant sleeping and talking. Jeez, get your mind out of the gutter. You're worse than Tommy."

"Jane is right, Angela. I'm not really up for shopping today, but maybe tomorrow, we can all go," the doctor suggested, giving the woman next to her a look that dared her to oppose her decision.

"Good. Maybe you can talk Jane into buying a nice sundress. Don't you think that'd be cute?" Angela the Instigator.

"I'll see what I can do," Maura winked.

"Right, bye, Ma!" Jane called over her shoulder, pulling her up the stairs to get away from her mother as quickly as possible. Jo followed them into the bedroom and circled the bed until one of them picked her up and put on it. This time it was Maura.

"You really should be nicer to your mother," the honey blonde commented, settling back under the sheets on her side of the bed. It was the left side, closest to the door; right if you were entering the room.

"I know. I tell myself that every morning, but then she says or does something crazy and it's hard," she said, lying down flat on her back and looking up at the ceiling. The room was comfortably silent for several minutes, the only sound penetrating it was the sound of Jo Fridays' breathing. "You really want me to come live with you?"

"I do," Maura's answer was immediate. No hesitation whatsoever.

Jane sighed and turned to look at her. "Fine, but remember this was your idea so you can't get mad at me for any of my habits."

"Jane, I already know most of your habits- wait, you mean, you'll move in with me?"

"I did just say that," the brunette rolled her eyes playfully. "You know, M, for a genius, you can be awfully slow."

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><p>The move was gradual. Painstakingly gradual.<p>

They had a case where gay and lesbian newlyweds were being murdered just after their nuptials. Their prime suspect was the priest who married the couples, but they couldn't find a definitive cause of death so they couldn't obtain a warrant to search the church. Luckily, Frost and Korsak were the ones who'd interviewed him. So when Jane and Maura showed up looking to get married, he didn't show any signs of suspicion.

Frankie was their witness with Frost and Korsak standing just outside the doors in case they were needed. Promptly after their promises of "I do" and a slightly awkward kiss, the priest handed them a chalice of wine urging them to drink. The pair shared a brief yet significant look. The couples were poisoned.

Maura had reached out to take it only to let it slip through her fingers and fall to the ground with a resounding _clang_. The boy training alongside the priest had stalked over to them in a fury and screamed at them. That's when they figured out that he was the one poisoning the couples. After he called them filthy abominations, Jane cuffed him and Frost hauled him to the station.

Shortly thereafter, there was the whole Hoyt situation, which they were still dealing with the ramifications of, everyone in their own ways.

That was why Jane and Maura found themselves back in bed –this time Jane's, laying on their sides staring at each other in a tension filled silence that the smaller of the two felt the need to break.

"I'm sorry you were attacked on your birthday."

A rough chuckle bounced around the room. "I'm sorry _you_ were attacked on my birthday."

The owner of hazel-green eyes leaned forward so that her forehead was pressed to the one in front of her. "It wasn't your fault, Jane. There was no way for you to know that was going to happen. And we're not going to dwell, although I will say I'm glad you got to him before I was rational enough to."

"Why?"

For a reason unknown to Jane the corner of Maura's mouth quirked upward and she saw a frightening look in her friend's eyes she'd never seen before. "Hoyt was right. In some ways, he and I are very much alike and in some ways, I don't mind. Though many people don't think me capable, with the right motivation I find the deliberate, concise slitting of another's throat is an idea to entertain in some circumstances." She paused to wet her lips. "I can be quite overprotective of you as well, Jane."

The Italian eyes were the size of saucers. "You would really do that for me?"

The medical examiner gave a European shrug. "You would do the same for me, in fact you did. I don't like seeing you hurt anymore than you like seeing me hurt."

"You, Maura Isles, are something else." She couldn't believe she was laughing, but she couldn't help it. If she wasn't laughing, she'd be crying.

"So I've heard," Maura smirked, closing the gap between them by placing her lips over Jane's for no longer than four seconds (four very long seconds) before pulling back with an interesting twinkle in her eye. "Our first kiss at the wedding was subpar at best. I personally thought we could do much better."

A loud bark of jovial laughter broke from Jane's throat and made the body beside her suddenly go warm. She bit her lip in attempt to quell her laughter and keep them from trembling as a result of the buzzing sensation left behind by her friend's lips.

"Only you, Maura," she said fondly.

"It better only be me. I refuse to share you with anyone, oh wife of mine."

It didn't work. Jane had to laugh.

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><p><strong>Review, per favore.<strong>


	3. Minuet

**Elephants Are a Minor Detail**

**By Elphaba C. S. Thropp**

**Chapter III: Minuet**

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><p><em>If we move in together, will I still be a slob? Will things get ordinary? Will I piss you off? Cuz I don't cook. I throw my clothes on the floor and I mix the <em>_**darks**__and whites. (…) So many things going through my mind; sometimes it gets scary, but when you're by my side. The world may be chaotic and the skies may explode, but we'll be okay, baby. This much- this much I know._

_~Minuet, Idina Menzel (aka, my #1 woman)_

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><p>"Maura, this is boring. I don't wanna watch this."<p>

"Jane, stop whining. It's almost over."

"It was almost over twenty minutes ago."

The doctor rolled her eyes with a grin playing on her mouth. Normally she couldn't stand whiners, but on Jane it managed to become unbelievably adorable as did many other things that would be deemed deplorable on anyone else. But it was also distracting her from her television program. It really was going to be over in less than ten minutes so she would have to keep her friend preoccupied until then.

"Open your legs, Jane." It was a simple command, but of course the other woman had to say something about it.

"Open my legs? What? Maura, did you really just ask me to open my legs?" Typical Jane.

Since the program had gone on commercial she turned her full attention to the woman next to her. "It was not a question, Jane. It was a demand. Now, be a good girl and open your legs." Smoldering green irises stopped the cop from refusing and slowly, a small pale hand slid from its spot on Jane's knee upward.

"Maura…" Coffee brown eyes were frantic and searching as they watched the hand move to her inner thigh.

"No talking, Isles." She'd taken to calling her new wife Isles in the past weeks that they'd been married which was still a bit of an adjustment for them.

"But-"

"No talking. Now spread your legs for me, beautiful," she reiterated, urging her with a soft squeeze to the thigh for which she received a moan-turned-cough and the opening of lean legs. "That's it."

"What are you doing?" Jane blurted before she could be interrupted again. She was confused and turned on at the same time and those two things were not a good combination for her.

The past few weeks they had shared kisses, mostly pecks on the lips and on the cheeks, but sometimes one of them would use a little tongue. Those were the very heated kisses that only ever happened in the morning or at night. Jane initiated the long morning kisses and Maura initiated the long night kisses.

They had also both grown accustomed to Maura being more assertive in her bossiness when they were home alone and Jane was perfectly and completely fine with it. She did what Maura said most of the time anyway so the only big change was that the blonde no longer let her refuse when she didn't want to do something. Except in some cases when Maura could sense that Jane really wasn't up for her suggestion, but that was rare.

However, they had never gone quite this far.

"I'll explain it when the show is over and I do believe I said no talking, Detective," she admonished, giving the inside of Jane's right thigh a little pat.

Shifting her body so that she was sitting right up against the other woman, Maura settled her delicate hand exactly where Jane's inner thigh met her apex. She was delighted to hear the brunette suck in a sharp breath and to feel the heat from her core against her hand. She wasn't sure what response she was looking for, but she was pleased with the one she received all the same.

For the next ten minutes Jane squirmed and sighed trying to get away from the torture her friend was imparting on her. Every time she tried to move she would get squeezed causing her body to tense in response to the tightness in her belly. By the time the show was finally over she was sure she was completely still to the point that all her joints would creak if she moved.

"Jane, open your eyes, please."

When had she closed them?

"That's a good girl, my pretty," Maura cooed, abandoning the television. She hadn't really paid attention to it much because she was distracted by all the little noises Jane made. If she wasn't excited before, she certainly was now. Pressing her lips to a tan ear, she savored the soft sigh that fell from Jane's lips. "I had intended to reprimand you for interrupting my show with you're your whining. However, right now, all I want to do is you."

"Oh, God." Hearing that and trying to keep her eyes open was a feat. She wasn't even trying to hide her arousal anymore.

"I'm not your God, but I am honored. Though, for future reference, I only want my name coming out of your mouth during moments like these." And there would be many more moments like this one, this much she was confident. "Am I understood?"

Gathering what little will power she had left, the Italian responded. "You know, it'd be a lot easier to talk about this if your hand _wasn't_ in my crotch."

Maura pulled back so she could see the grin on her face. "When have we ever been normal, Isles?"

"Why do you call me that?"

"You legally changed your name to Jane Isles when you married me if you recall," she drawled in such a way that it seemed to travel from her mouth all the way to floor.

"I did, didn't I?" She actually surprised herself when she chose to take Maura's name. She always imagined that if she and Maura ever did get marry that her best friend would become a Rizzoli. Not that she often imagined them married before the actual event.

Seeing the pensive expression on Jane's face, her hand retreated until it was merely placed on the sofa between slowly closing legs. "We can still always get it annulled, Jane. It would hurt, but I think… I can go back. We don't have to be more than friends if this is uncomfortable for you. I just need you, Jane, nothing more. I'm satisfied with our friendship."

"M, I like being married to you. We're still best friends and we still do the same things we did before we moved in together and before we got married. But now we kiss, and sleep in the same bed every night, and your bossiness is a lot more apparent. And I like it. I like being with you, Maura. It's strange because usually I would be freaking out that we are moving way too incredibly fast, but with you this all feels normal and… _right_. Does that make any sense?" Sometime while she was talking, she had taken two manicured hands in hers and simultaneously found the piercing emerald eyes that so easily soothed even her most beastly of moods.

"Yes, I find that I know precisely what you mean. I feel the same way. This is very unconventional, but I can't find it in me to care because I'm with you," the smaller woman confessed, removing her hands from her partner's and slipping them around her waist to pull her in for a hug that signified so many different things at once. Understanding, acceptance, love and in many ways ownership.

And right on cue, the front door opened and in walked Tommy and Angela.

"God, what have I ever done to deserve them?" Groaned the detective, releasing her wife who sent her a chastising glare. Frowning, Jane raised her hands to the heavens in a silent plea. "Is knocking a foreign concept to you people? What if Maura and I were busy? What if she was telling me she's pregnant? Is that a conversation you would've liked to walk in on?"

"Dr. Isles, you're pregnant?" Angela nearly screeched.

"Of course not. Jane was merely using that as a very poor example of why one should knock before entering someone else's home," Maura clarified, rolling her eyes at Jane.

"You don't want kids?" Tommy asked.

Jane would've told him to mind his own business, but she wanted to hear the answer first. "I do, but I'm not pregnant. Speaking of which, Isles, I need to talk to you later."

"Isles?" The other two Rizzoli's raised their dark eyebrows.

Jane shook her head. "It's just a nickname she came up with; don't put too much thought into it."

"Do I get a nickname?" Tommy inquired of the blonde.

"No, you're not special enough for a nickname," his older sister cut in before Maura could even open her mouth.

"I'm more special that you," he shot back.

She laughed. "Yeah, Thomas, if you call being twenty seven and still living with Ma special, then you sure are something special. I don't know _how_ you're still single."

"Jane, be nice."

But it didn't come from Angela.

Oh no, it came from an amused Dr. Isles.

Instead of responding, Jane went to the kitchen to retrieve her cup of apple juice from the refrigerator. She took a sip and sighed in contentment. She loved apple juice.

"Hello, Dr. Isles, how are you today?" Angela, obviously ignoring her children, moved to the sofa to greet her (unknown to her) daughter-in-law.

The medical examiner's thoughts instantly went to the conversation she'd been engaged in just before their arrival and an immediate beaming grin made its way to her face. "I'm happy."

"_Sono felice?_ That's all?" Jane said from the kitchen, though she knew Maura didn't know what that meant.

"I'm really, _really_ happy," she amended.

Jane chuckled to herself. "_Lei è molto, _molto_ felice."_

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><p><em>(Io) sono felice= <em>I'm happy.

_Lei è molto, molto felice=_ She's very, very happy.

**Review, per favore.**


	4. Follow If You Lead

**Elephants Are a Minor Detail**

**By Elphaba C. S. Thropp**

**Chapter IV: Follow If You Lead**

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><p><em>Do you believe that the earth was flat or round? Do you bet you've lived before or is this your first time around? Do you believe we're here to learn? Do you dream in black or white? Or are you coloring your lost and found to make it bright? Will I lose a friend striving to contend? Will I destroy this trust when I want the best for us? Will I hold your hand no matter what you plan? For every hour you need I will follow if you lead.<em>

_~Follow If You Lead, Idina Menzel_

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><p>"I don't wanna tell her, Maura," Jane complained, dragging her feet behind her wife as she was led to the precinct coffee shop.<p>

"We have to tell her eventually, Jane and you refuse to do it while we're at home so we're doing it now, whether you like it or not." For those of you who thought Maura Isles could not lay the hammer down.

"But Maura, at work?" She questioned, tugging on the M. E.'s hand to stop her from stepping into the coffee shop. "Of all places?"

"I don't see why not. Everyone else found out while they were at work," Maura reasoned, plowing forward to her destination.

Before they even made it to the counter Angela was greeting them. "Hi, Janie, hello, Dr. Isles."

"Hi, Ma," her daughter grumbled, shifting so that she was standing more behind her friend.

"Hello, Angela. When you have a free moment, Jane and I have something we'd like to share with you," she let her know, grabbing a petulant Jane and pulling her to a nearby table. When they sat, she fixed her with her _stop sulking_ look. "You're overreacting, you know. Your mother likes me, I'm a doctor, and I can provide for you and make you happy. What reason does she have to protest our union?"

"Well, for one, you're a woman and also, there's the issue of grandchildren and I didn't tell her sooner and she's gonna assume and Maura, it won't be pretty."

"My gender shouldn't have anything to do with it, there was nothing for you to tell up until recently, we can correct any wrong assumptions she may or may not make and as for children, like I said, we'll discuss it later in private." She reached across the table to intertwine her fingers with darker, nimble ones. She wanted to be able to alleviate Jane's nervousness, but the only way to do that was to tell Angela about them. "Would her opinion of us change your mind?"

"Change my mind about what?" The curly haired brunette asked confused, looking at the woman across for her in favor of letting her eyes roam around the room.

"About us."

"What? Maura, of course not. I'm totally and completely in this with you, no matter what, remember?" She squeezed her hand and gave her a lopsided smile that was just too adorable for words.

"You're in what with her, Jane?"

"Jesus, Ma, wear a bell, would you?" The detective hissed when she jumped startled by her mother's sudden appearance.

"It's not my fault if you're unobservant, Janie," Angela responded with a shrug. "What did you two wanna talk to me about?"

Maura glanced at Jane who gave her a look. "No way in hell. I'm not telling her. This was _your_ idea, Maura."

"I thought you were in this with me," her partner accused.

"Ha! Not this. Go ahead."

With a huff, Maura turned back to a very confused Angela. "Jane and I are married."

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><p>"Explain." Was demanded of them once they were outside the station.<p>

"Explain what, Ma? We're married, that's it," Jane said impatiently, itching to have this conversation be over and done with.

"How did this happen, Jane? And why didn't you say anything? Who else knows?" There was a blink for every question that was thrown at her at rapid fire.

"Ma, it's really complicated, okay? Can we continue this some other time? I have paperwork to do," the younger Rizzoli told her, sounding tired though the discussion had just begun.

"Oh, no you don't, Jane Rizzoli, you're not getting out this. You're going to tell me how this happened and you're going to tell me now," Angela commanded standing in akimbo in true Rizzoli fashion.

"I asked Jane to move in with me a couple months ago," Maura began.

"For God's sake, why?"

"My original intent was to seduce her. Well, actually, that's still my intent, but the plans have been abolished in light of our new marriage," the doctor elucidated in the matter-of-fact way that she usually did.

"Ma, it's not like we got married without by choice- wait, Maura, you only asked me to move in with you for sex?"

Sensing Jane's alarm, she shook her head and grabbed one of her hands. "No, of course not. I just love having you around me all the time and since we spend so much time together already, the next logical thing to do was to bring you into my home –now our home. Bringing you into my bed has always been seen as a bonus. A very, very, _very_ anticipated bonus."

"Really?"

Maura nodded with a smile. "I would never use you, Jane."

"Stop it, you two," Angela snapped, gaining the couple's attention again. "The marriage. I wanna know about the marriage."

"We had a case, Ma," Jane told her, exasperated. She should be getting paid to be telling her mother this. She really should. "We had to go undercover and get married. Well, we didn't have to; it was Maura's idea and it worked. We got the kid who was killing the couples."

"You couldn't go undercover with Detective Frost? Maura's not even an investigator," she reasoned loudly.

"Gay couples were being targeted. Besides, Maura's the only other female at the station that's qualified to go undercover," her eldest child explicated, frowning at her. She knew her mother would have a problem with this.

"Well, when are you getting it annulled?" Angela queried expectantly.

"We're not, Angela," Maura answered resolutely, pulling her wife to her side. "We plan to stay married."

"But you're not gay!"

"No, I'm… Maura-sexual," Jane responded with a little grin at the neologism she displayed.

"Jane, I'm not a sexuality," the blonde reminded her, tilting her head in confusion in the adorable way that Jane loved.

"You're _my_ sexuality," she shrugged. "Look, Ma, I didn't wanna tell you cuz I knew you would react like this. I know you need time to process this so you can find us when you do, but no matter what you say or do, Maura and I are staying together."

"Have you two always been like this with each other?"

"No. The romantic aspect of our relationship is recent. Jane is still adjusting," Maura let her know, earning a look of incredulity from her best friend.

"Really, Maura? _Really?_"

"What?" She asked, obliviously. "Angela, if you're worried that I can't satisfy Jane like you think a man can, there's no need for it. I don't think that there's anyone, present company excluded, that knows her better than I do and that can attend to her needs and wishes as well as I do. Jane is still my best friend and I do care very deeply for her."

"See, Ma? Maura's got everything covered. I don't need a man to marry when I have her," Jane said, staring at Maura with something akin to adoration in her eyes. She was happy to see that it was twinkling right back at her from hazel-green eyes.

"Aw, Jane, that's so sweet," the fashionista gushed.

Jane's face fell and she pinched the bridge of her nose together. "Okay, ew. I don't do sweet."

"You do, actually, very often 'do sweet.' You're very considerate of me and others, whether you realize it or not," she countered easily. "It's one of the many things that I find so appealing about you."

"Are you two done?" Angela interrupted them with an unreadable expression. "I have to get back to work."

The brunette sighed as she watched her mother walk away from them. "Well, that went well."

* * *

><p>"Do you think we should tell Frost and Korsak?" Maura inquired later that night when they were getting ready for bed. She was in the process of buttoning the top of her silk pajamas when Jane came from the bathroom and slapped her hands away.<p>

"Leave it open," she demanded by means of an explanation. "No, they'll figure it out eventually and if they don't, then I'm going to request they retake their detective's exam."

Leaving the buttons undone, she climbed into bed and watched the other woman go about her nightly routine. "Should we tell my parents?"

Jane stopped on her way to their closet and looked at her. "Do you _want_ to tell your parents?"

Maura paused to think about this. "I've been pondering it for the past week and I think that I do, but I don't want to tell them over the phone or via e-mail. I want to tell them in person, but they're both very busy people so I may not have the opportunity to do that."

"Well, you know, it's whatever you wanna do."

"What would you like to do, Isles?" She asked.

"I would much rather this shindig happen in person, but if worse comes to worse, we could always Skype them," Jane suggested, continuing into the closet for her nightshirt.

"I had thought of that. That'll probably be the best way to get in touch with them." There was a dull _thud_ followed by a soft curse. "Jane, what are you doing in there?"

"Nothing," she grumbled, coming out of the closet. **(AN: Hahahahaha! That was not on purpose.)**

"Are you okay?"

"_Bene, grazie_."

"I don't know what that means."

"I'm fine, Maura."

"Are you sure? Do you want me to kiss it better?"

"I hit my boob on accident."

"I should really check that out, Jane."

"Did you just make a pass at me?"

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><p><em>Bene, grazie=<em> Fine, thanks.

**Review, per favore.**


	5. Adore & Fallin' For You

**Elephants Are a Minor Detail**

**By Elphaba C. S. Thropp**

**Chapter V: I Adore Fallin' For You**

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><p><em>I don't know, but I think I may be fallin' for you, dropping so quickly. Maybe I should keep this to myself, wait until I know you better. I am trying not to tell you, but I want to. I'm scared of what you'd say so I'm hiding what I'm feeling. But I'm of holding this inside my head. I've been spending all my time just thinking 'bout you. I don't know what to do; I think I'm fallin' for you. I've been waiting all my life and now I found you. I don't know what to do; I think I'm fallin' for you.<em>

_~Fallin' For You, Colbie Caillat_

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><p><em>I don't mean to run, but every time you come around I feel more alive than ever. And I guess it's too much, maybe we're too young and I don't even know what's real. But I know I've never wanted anything so bad. I've never wanted anyone so bad. If I let you love me, be the one adored, would you go all the way? Be the one I'm looking for? <em>

_~Adore, Paramore_

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><p>Dr. Maura Isles was exhausted. If ever there was a word that went beyond exhausted, she would be it. She could barely stand while she and Jane showered –and that was all they did in there. They had a triple homicide and it took them a whole week to catch their guy. They'd stayed late almost every night, even going so far as to sleep in her office one night, which turned out to be a <em>horrible<em> idea. So her fatigue was justified.

That was why she could not for the life of her understand why she and Jane were downstairs in the living room talking to the youngest Rizzoli. She could barely even keep her eyes open.

"Hey look, Ma is going crazy over there in the guest house. She won't stop cleaning and asking me when I'm going bring home a nice girl and give her grandchildren. I can't take it anymore, Dr. Isles. Do you think I could stay with you just for tonight?"

She stared blankly at Tommy, barely processing the question being asked. "Yes, you can stay in the guest room. Jane, could you show him where it is? I'll be up later."

"Sure thing."

As soon as she heard their footsteps upstairs she collapsed against her sofa pillows.

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><p>Maura blinked awake and immediately knew she wasn't in her bed. She vaguely remembered sending Tommy upstairs to the guest bedroom and then everything was pretty fuzzy beyond that. Breathing in deeply, she went to bring her arms above her head to stretch, but found them to be restricted. Looking down, she was pleasantly surprised to see her best friend's lanky form lying prone almost entirely on top of her.<p>

The other woman's hair was a mass of black curls strewn all over the place. It sort of looked like it was taking over her head and that visual made her giggle. Before long her giggles turned into full on boisterous laughter that shook her entire book, which in turn shook Jane awake.

"Wha… why is everything shaking?" She then heard the sound of Maura's fantastical laughter. "What's so funny?"

Trying to sober up, the blonde pressed her lips together but couldn't completely hold in her giggles. "Nothing. Good morning. How did you sleep?"

"I slept great. You're very soft." She punctuated her point by grabbing at the exposed flesh on a pale hip, effectively halting all laughter. "I like sleeping on you."

"I like it when you sleep on me," Maura replied, feeling her face flush when the hand Jane had on her hip moved up to slid up and down her side.

"Good." Things were silent for a while before Jane spoke up again. "So… I kind of… like you… a lot… if that wasn't already clear."

Maura bit her lip over her amused-slash-adoring smile. "Mostly, I think you're quite wonderful."

A strange expression crossed Jane's face then and she pushed herself up in a push up position. "Oh, my God, Maura, we're married… like we are wife and wife… for like, ever. We were brought together in a sanctified union. Oh, my God."

"I take it that the realization is just catching up with you," the medical examiner observed softly, searching chocolate brown eyes for any sign of panic. All she saw though was an exciting mixture of joy, fear, anxiety, lust, adoration and something else that she was sure was reflected back in her own. Her whole body went warm with her own realization.

She was in love with Jane.

She loved everything about her; her hair, her eyes, her smile, her appreciation of things she didn't understand, her drive for justice, the way her dimples winked at everyone when she smiled, the way she narrowed her eyes when she was thinking about something, the way her voice raised an octave when she was indignant, the her nose was crinkle when she didn't like something. It was everything and she _loved_ that it was everything.

She, Maura Isles, was in love and had been for quite some time if she was being honest with herself.

"Oh my."

"What is it, Maura?" Jane was very well aware of the trepidation in the other woman's voice.

"Are we crazy, Jane?" She wondered with a little sigh, letting her eyes wander to the ceiling. "Are we crazy for moving so fast? We went from best friends to a married couple and there was virtually no in-between. I just… tell me we're not crazy, please."

"We're not crazy, Maura… well, we are, but not specifically for this," the brunette explained.

The forensic pathologist blew out a breath and ran a hand down her face in a move that was so very Jane. "What if we don't work out? I had considered it as a very real possibility, but it didn't feel real until now when I actually got you. I don't want to lose you, Jane. I _cannot_ lose you."

"Maura, what did I tell you? I'm not going anywhere, all right. You got me, I'm yours and I'm here to stay. You're not gonna lose me, honey." Jane pulled herself off of her distressed friend and sat so they were side by side. She caught a searching green gaze and their eyes locked. "What's wrong? What happened? Why you freakin' out on me? Talk to me."

Her chin quivered under the intensity of their stare, but she didn't or couldn't look away. "I've always had strong feelings for you, Jane. Always, though those did come after the desire to pursue a sexual relationship with you. For a very long time I've been attributing my feelings to the strengthening of our friendship. I knew it was something more than that when I became dependent on our time together, craved it even. That's when I knew I wanted you all to myself, which is so incredibly selfish of me, but I can't help how I feel. It didn't even occur to me that it could be more than a strong aspiration to be closer to you."

Sometimes Jane couldn't help but feel overwhelmed and surprised by her best friend when she unleashed all of this on her. It was strange, but not in the bad way. "Maura, what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that I'm in love with my wife," she groaned, slapping her hands over her face as if in agony. "I'm in love with you, Jane and it's going to disturb what we have. I'm so sorry that I didn't notice before this and I can definitely understand if you want a divorce; just don't be mad at me. I'm so sorry for this, Jane."

The Italian's heart cracked when Maura's voice did with emotion and she pulled her into her lap. "Jesus Maura, you being in love with me is not going to screw things up. Don't be sorry for something you can't control and we're not getting a divorce. Being in love with your wife is quite normal in a marriage, you know."

"Jane, our marriage isn't normal," the blonde protested softly, squeezing her eyes shut against the onslaught of tears she felt coming. _She didn't say it back. _Her chest constricted tightly around her heart and she wanted nothing more than to ripe it out and replace it with something much less fragile.

"Being normal is vastly overrated," Jane mimicked Debbie Reynolds playfully. When the only response she received was a sniffle she turned Maura around so they were facing each other, pulled her into a hug and didn't let go.

She never wanted to let go.

She didn't think she ever could.

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><p><strong>AN: So the title was a misnomer.<strong>

**Review, per favore.**


	6. Touch Me

**Elephants Are a Minor Detail**

**By Elphaba C. S. Thropp**

**Chapter VI: Touch Me**

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><p><em>Where I go when I go there; no more memory anymore. Only men on distant ships; the women with them swimming with them to shore. Where I go when I go there, no more whispering anymore. Only hymns upon your lips, the mystic wisdom rising with them to shore. Touch me, just like that. And that, oh yeah, now that's heaven. Now, that I like. God, that's so nice. Now, lower down where the figs lie.<em>

_~Touch Me, Spring Awakening_

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><p>"So you gonna tell me what's up?"<p>

The week had been a quiet but tense one. Quiet because there was only one case in the whole homicide unit and tense because of the strained interactions between the two Isles women, though no one except Cavanaugh and Angela knew they were still both Isles women. Either way, it was clear something was different with the two of them and it was making things uncomfortable.

Jane recognized that Maura needed her space and she was okay with that to a certain point. And that certain point had passed by Wednesday afternoon. It was now Friday night and the detective had just about had it with the M. E., which was why she had marched into their bathroom where the other woman was soaking in a bubble bath.

"There's nothing 'up,' Jane," Maura sighed because she couldn't very well just come out and tell her what was wrong. And she wasn't lying either. As far as she knew, nothing was "up."

"Really because for the past week you've been acting like I let Jo Friday run loose in your closet. I gave you space and now we need to talk."

"Could you hand me my towel?" She requested softly, standing up and stepping out of the bathtub while Jane had her back turned to retrieve the piece of cloth. The grin that found her face was almost immediate when Jane turned back around to hand her the towel and bright brown eyes considerably darkened with lust. They slowly scanned Maura's figure from toe to head, stopping when their eyes locked.

The brunette swallowed thickly and tried to drag her eyes away from the dripping wet form in front of her. With unsteady hands, she held the towel out for the other woman to take. However, instead of receiving it in her hands, Maura stepped forward and allowed her body to be wrapped in it. Not realizing what was happening until well after it had occurred, Jane allowed herself to be backed up against the counter.

"Thank you, Jane."

Jane blinked once, then twice, and then nodded slowly before shaking her head. _What the hell was going on?_ When she finally registered everything, she looked into mischievous green eyes that had darkened to a smoky, forest green in light of her arousal.

Maura was playing with her.

_Well_.

Two could play at that game.

Gathering what little will power she had left she squatted down and began to slowly dry off the creamy, wet skin of the woman in front of her. Satisfied by the sharp intake of breath she heard when she passed the knees, she continued to move upward at an alarming slow rate. She tried desperately to squelch the burning desire to lose the towel and take Maura right there on the bathroom floor (not that Maura would actually ever allow that).

"Jane," the doctor breathed, cursing herself for sounding as breathless as she felt. "You don't have to do that."

The detective shrugged. "You'd do the same for me."

And when she looked up, the blonde almost came right then and there. The sight of Jane on her knees in front of her, staring up at her as if waiting for a command… God, the visual was almost too much. But then she processed Jane's words and shook her head ruefully.

"Oh, I don't think I would," she replied teasingly.

"You wouldn't?" The Italian stood up and Maura had to strain to keep her hands from pushing her back down to her knees.

"Jane, honey," she let the towel fall away and pushed herself flush against the object of her affections. The action caused a coil of want to bury itself deep in her belly and a pulse of arousal to shoot straight to her core. "If I had you in front of me dripping wet and completely naked, I would be in you so deep right now."

She hadn't meant to say that out loud, but from the way Jane's breath started to become labored, she wasn't that annoyed by her lack of an effective filter.

"Is that so?" It was her last attempt to keep some type of composure and stay in the game, but hearing Maura say that made her panties so incredibly damp.

"It is. In fact, I'm finding it very difficult to keep from stripping you down right now and fucking you while you scream my name until you pass out."

_God._

She was so losing this game.

Wait...

Did Maura just say fuck?

"Did you just say fuck?"

"I can get very dirty when I'm turned on, beautiful," the unclothed woman purred in the most sultry voice Jane had ever heard from her. Leaning forward so that their lips were a hair apart, Maura ran her tongue along Jane's bottom lip before tugging on it roughly. At the sound of the brunette's low moan, she released it and sucked on it lightly. "I want you so badly, Jane. All. The. Fucking. Time. It's so very difficult to keep my hands off of you at work. I'm sure, if you would let me, I would take you on your desk in full view of everyone."

"_Jesus,_ Maura."

The small hands that had settled themselves on narrow hips tightened reasonably. The muscles of her arms contracted and released so slowly that she was allowed three deep breaths. She bit her lip in an effort to not devour her partner. "Jane, you don't know how hard it is for me not to have my way with you right now. I'm actually, physically containing the urge, when all I want to do is be inside you."

"What's stopping you?"

Maura actually laughed at that, though she didn't particularly find it funny. "You."

Now Jane was confused. "Me? I'm not stopping- Maura, I want this. I want this so fucking much."

The honey blonde laughed again and moved away from her, thankful for the distance so she could think properly. "You may want this, Jane, but you're not ready."

The detective gave her a look of incredulity. "Are you kidding me, Maura? I'm so ready for you it's not even funny."

She shook her head and motioned for her friend to follow her into their bedroom. "I don't mean physically. I mean emotionally. You're not ready for this emotionally, not like I am. You need more time."

Jane bristled. "And who are you to get to decide that?"

She turned around to fix her with a glare. "Do _not_ take a tone with me, Jane Isles. I'm looking out for our relationship. I'm not risking what we have or could potentially have with sex that you're not ready for."

"But-"

"No, buts. Now get into bed and wait for me," she commanded before disappearing into their closet.

Grumbling something incoherent, she climbed into bed and debated getting out just to spite Maura, but before she could make a decision, the smaller woman was back clad in one of Jane's large night shirts.

She crawled into bed next to the curly haired woman and placed a light kiss on her pouting lips as she straddled her. "I know you're probably frustrated with me, Baby Girl, but I'm doing this for your own good." She was pleased when she felt Jane melt against her. "You are so precious to me." She kissed her again, this time longer. "What I have with you is my motivation." Another kiss was issued. "And it would destroy me if something happened to ruin us." She moved off of Jane's lap, but stayed directly in front of her. "So we're going to wait. Is that understood, Jane?"

"Yeah," the Italian murmured and shifted to bury her head in the crook of Maura's neck as she wrapped long arms around her waist. "I get it."

Green eyes closed and it was obvious that she was visibly trying to back slap the compulsion to say I love you. Instead, she moved so that she was lying on her back and Jane was laying half on top of her.

"Good night, Isles."

"_Buonanotte."_

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><p><strong>The rating will change next chapter.<strong>

**Review, per favore.**


	7. The Only Exception

**Elephants Are a Minor Detail**

**By Elphaba C. S. Thropp**

**Chapter VII: The Only Exception**

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><p><em>Life is a moment in space when the dream is gone, it's a lonelier place. I kiss the morning goodbye, but down inside, you know they never know why. The road is narrow and long when eyes meet eyes and the feeling is strong. I turn away from the wall, I stumble and fall, but I give you it all. I am woman in love and I'd do anything to get you into my world and hold you within, it's a right I defend over and over again. <em>

_~Woman in Love, Barbra Streisand_

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><p><em>Maybe I know somewhere deep in my soul that love never lasts. And we've got to find other ways to make it alone or keep a straight face. And I've always lived like this, keeping a comfortable distance. And up until now I had sworn to myself that I'm content with loneliness because none of it was ever worth the risk. Well, you are the only exception. You are the only exception. You are the only exception. You are the only exception. I've got a tight grip on reality, but I can't let go of what's in front of me here.<em>

_~The Only Exception, Paramore_

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><p>Detective Jane Rizzoli was not a patient woman. As it happened, not only being best friends with, but also the wife of Chief Medical Examiner Maura Isles required bit more patience that Jane didn't have. Case in point; they had just come from a crime scene and she had opened a closet in the deceased's home only to have a different dead body collapse onto her. Now she was standing in the morgue waiting on the M. E. with one of her nervous assistants.<p>

The waiting she didn't mind _all that much_, it was the waiting while covered in death part that she really couldn't stand. She would bounce on her knees, but she might shake off forensic evidence so all she could was stand there wearing human remains while she waited on her wife.

"I'm sorry about that, Jane," the caramel blonde apologized as she _click-clacked_ her way into the morgue. "Another detective needed my opinion on something."

"On a case?" Jane inquired, watching her put on her gloves.

Maura paused very briefly. "He wanted to know the best way to approach you to ask you out on a date."

"What did you tell him?"

"I told him it would be best if he didn't approach you with that intent," she answered, beginning to carefully remove Jane's blazer.

"What did he say?"

"He asked why he shouldn't ask you out," she said, putting the blazer in an evidence bag, sealing it and handing it off to her assistant.

"And you said?"

"Do you really wanna know?" She questioned, moving her hands the hem of Jane's blue shirt only to have her hands batted away.

"Yes, I wanna know. And what are you doing?"

Maura frowned when her friend stepped away from her. "I told him that he shouldn't do that because you are in a committed replationship. And you have blood on your shirt, which makes it evidence so you can't wear it anymore."

"Wha- I don't want other people seeing me undressed," the brunette told her, eyeing the assistant who was watching her.

The forensic pathologist rolled her eyes in a typical Jane fashion before indicating to her assistant to leave them. After he left the morgue, she turned back to the smirking woman in front of her. "What?"

"You just dismissed him," she chuckled. "Like he was a little puppy."

"I did not," Maura said quickly before catching the hem of Jane's shirt between her fingers once more. She looked like she was about to say something factual, but slowly, one delicate brow raised and the corner of her lip quirked upward in a devilish little smirk. "Are you not wearing an undershirt?"

"No, I didn't have time to put one on because you were rushing me out of the house," she exemplified in ways of an accusation.

Instead of replying, the medical examiner clicked her tongue thoughtfully and pulled the shirt over her friend's head. That proved to be a bad idea as soon as she did it. She had nearly forgotten how hard it was to concentrate wasn't fully clothed and now she was sure she was drooling, which was most unladylike.

"This was a bad idea," she conceded, not once taking her eyes away from Jane's half naked body. A bout of heat swirled around in her cheeks and in her lower lips forcing her to take a deep breath and calm the fuck down. "This was an extremely bad idea."

Jane just chuckled. It was good to know the doctor's weaknesses.

* * *

><p>"Tommy, chew with your mouth closed, you oaf," Jane barked at her youngest brother who was sitting on her and Maura's sofa watching the game with Frankie and Maura, who had her attention half on the game and half on Jane.<p>

"I am!" he insisted loudly.

"Tommy, don't yell. Janie, be nicer to your brother," Angela commanded easily from where she was with Jane in the kitchen. Lowering her voice, she addressed her daughter solely, "I just wanna say again how sorry I am for the way I reacted. I just needed some time to process everything. I mean, one day you're completely straight and the next, you're married to your best friend who's a woman. But you know I love you."

"Of course, Ma. I totally get it," she said with a shrug. Her mother had already apologized profusely when she was invited over for dinner. She really didn't need to say it anymore. "Can you get your children to watch the game in the guest house? I'm kinda tired and Maura's getting that glossy look in her eyes. I think we're gonna head up to bed."

"Okay, Jane. I love you." She punctuated the statement with a kiss to her daughter's cheek. Her next move was to get her boys out of the house.

"Does Jane need a ride home?" Frankie wondered as he got up and stretched. The subject of his sentence had gone to find and feed Bass.

"Jane is home," Maura replied easily, standing as well.

Tommy smirked, believing he understand the joke. "I think he meant her apartment, Maura."

"I know what he meant. Jane doesn't live there anymore. She lives here with me. We've been living together for quite some time, but I suppose it's any easy thing to miss because she was here so often before she moved in," the doctor exemplified, taking in her brothers-in-law's expressions. "You're angry."

"A little bit, yeah," the youngest confirmed, nodding his head. "You said she's been living here for while?"

"Yes, a few weeks before we…" she trailed off, not knowing if she should tell them about the marriage yet. "She's been here a while."

"So how's that gonna work when the two of you marry different men? Are her and her husband gonna just live in your guest room?" He interrogated snappily.

Her reply was to shake her head. "No, Jane won't be getting married to a man and neither will I. Also, she doesn't sleep in the guest room. She sleeps in my bedroom with me. _Our_ bedroom, I should say. I suppose I should just tell you since we've stumbled upon the subject, Jane and I got married during a case –Frankie, you remember, you were present, and we decided not to have it annulled. So, we're still married and we plan to remain that way."

"You married her?" Tommy's eyes practically bugged out of his head.

"I did. And I'm irrefutably happy with the arrangement. Jane makes me happier than I've been in my life so far. You both know how I am with people. My personality tends to keep others at a distance, but it's not like that with Jane. I can be who I am with her and I never thought that was possible before. You understand, don't you?"

"Hey, Maura, why don't we-" The detective stopped midsentence when she walked into the living room from whatever room in the house that she'd previously been in when she saw the looks her brothers were giving her.

"You married her?" Tommy repeated.

"Yes," she confirmed calmly. "Frankie, you were there. Anyway, what does it matter to you who I married? Are you gonna treat me any different for being with her?"

"No, Janie, it's not that," Frankie insisted. "You didn't tell me that you were gonna stay married. I thought you'd get it annulled or something."

"I thought about it, but we decided that we wanted to see if this is gonna go anywhere. It's worth a shot, you know? Besides, marriage is like being really, _really_ intense best friends," she reasoned with a slight shrug. "We've already got the intense best friends part down. Now all we need is the _really,_ really part."

"And we've come very close to that already." Of course Maura had to input that little comment.

Ignoring it, Jane continued on, "Also, I'm like 98% sure that I'm in love with her and she's in love with me, too so there's nothing unusual about this… except that we didn't tell anyone. But really, I don't tell anybody anything anyway, besides Maura."

"You love me?"

The brunette glanced at the blonde who was wearing a watery smile. "What? Maura, of course I do. I thought that was obvious when I agreed to move in with you. But really, Frankie, Tommy, you guys gotta go. Maura and I are tired. We can discuss this in the morning. Deal?"

"You better believe it," Tommy promised before taking his leave with his older brother and mother.

The only remaining Italian breathed a sigh of relief as soon as the door shut.

"You love me?"

She chuckled at the adorably ecstatic look on her wife's face. "Duh. I thought you were the genius in this marriage."

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><p><strong>Review, per favore.<strong>

**~Elphaba C. Snow Thropp**


	8. Anat of a Tidal Wave & Breathe Me

**Elephants Are a Minor Detail**

**By Elphaba C. Snow Thropp**

**Chapter VIII: Anatomy of a Tidal Wave/Breathe Me **

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><p><em>Inside you broke my heart and took a little piece of me. Maybe one day we'll try again, but it won't ever be the same. If I don't hold on now, everything fades and slips away. Tomorrow's another start, but it looks like every day.<em>

_~Anatomy of a Tidal Wave, Cold_

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><p><em>Help, I have done it again. I have been here many times before. Hurt myself again today. And the worst part is there's no one else to blame. Be my friend. Hold me. Wrap me up. Unfold me. I am small and needy. Warm me up and breathe me. Ouch, I have lost myself again.<em>

_~Breathe Me, Sia_

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><p>She hadn't seen Jane in over a week. It had actually been eleven days since she'd seen her. During Gabriel Dean's funeral, Patrick Doyle fled the hospital before he could be detained. She and Jane had gone home separately; she'd gone upstairs and shut out the world and Jane… well, she didn't know where she had gone. And for the first few days she noticed Jane's absence, she hadn't made a conscious effort to look for her. She was still too angry, however irrational her anger was.<p>

When a week was up, she expected the lanky detective to be back at work like she was. But she wasn't at work. None of the other detectives had seen her either, nor Frankie, nor Angela. That was when she began to worry. Jane's car was still in the garage, but her phone, gun, and badge were gone. Angela had tried calling her daughter, but it went straight to voicemail.

Her chest began to deflate on the ninth day when she woke up. Jane wasn't next to her, not that she actually expected her to be. Though her anger was beginning to simmer, she didn't think she could handle being that close to her wife yet. When she trudged –yes, she trudged –down the stairs and found a note on the refrigerator, her stomach untwisted and twisted again. It was from Jane. She got another note in the same fashion the next morning as well, but Jane still wasn't at work.

The day she actually saw her was a shock. She came downstairs prepared for another note and nearly had a heart attack when she discovered the brunette sitting Indian style on the countertop next to the sink, playing with her hands in her lap. She was wearing a sweater that swallowed her lean form and pair of yoga pants, her chin looked to be pressed to her chest, which caused her wild locks to fall around her face. Her legs were pulled as close to her as they could be as well as her arms. It appeared as though she were caving in on herself.

The loud gasp that Maura sucked in caused Jane's entire body to flinch violently and her head to flicked to where the other woman had entered. She peered at her through her dark curls before dropping her eyes. "Sorry… for scaring you."

"Where have you been?" The question was out of her mouth before she could register the overwhelming amount of relief and anger that was crashing into her. She almost stepped back from the sheer force of it all.

Jane licked her badly chapped lips and blinked her good eye. "Nowhere. Um, some people wanted to… they wanted to see me. Sorry for… being gone so long." With a grimace, she took slow deep breaths. She needed to stop forgetting to speak in shorter sentences.

The doctor, though taken with her own emotions, didn't fail to take notice of the change in Jane's breathing. She did, however, choose not to comment on it. "You've been gone _nowhere_ for eleven days?"

"Yeah," the Italian let out a breathy laugh and winced at the pain surrounding her chest. "Wait, it's been eleven days? I don't remember… never mind. You heading to work?"

"Why are you changing the subject?" Maura demanded to know, folding her arms across her chest. "Why have you been gone? You didn't even tell me you were leaving. You didn't tell anybody. Why did you run?"

"I didn't… leave… I… didn't run… don't… be mad… at me… _please_," she heaved in short breaths before leaning over the sink and releasing her stomach contents. Frowning at the deep red color that came out of her, she turned on the faucet and grabbed a paper towel to wipe her mouth. When it looked like all of the vomit was gone, she turned the faucet back off and went back to staring at her hands that returned to her lap. "Maura… you should… go to… go to work." Lifting her head so she could see more than her wife's shoes, she crumpled the paper towel in her hand. "I'll be here… when you get back."

"What happened to you, Jane?" The medical examiner interrogated, walking forward to stand in front of the woman on the counter. "Don't lie to me."

Jane sighed. "Maura… I'll be fine."

She caught the word choice there. "But you're not fine now. Tell me what happened right now." Her tone held no room for negotiation.

"Why are you… trying to push this?" The brunette groaned as the smaller woman began to walk closer to her. She waited until she was in front of her before she spoke again. "Can't you just… leave it… alone?"

"Can I leave it alone? Can I _leave it alone_? I can't believe you just said that to me." The last few words came out as if she had just been punched in the gut and the air had left her. And that was exactly how she felt. "Jane, do you _know_ what you just said to me?"

"Look, Maura… I'm sorry, but… I'm not going to… argue with you," she mumbled as she very carefully unfolded one of her legs, not even hiding her gasp of pain at the action. "We've already been… over everything. I'm… sorry for telling Dean… about Patty and you are… in the process of forgiving… me. I know this and you… know this. I don't wanna… have to go through it again. Can we just… pretend this never happened?"

Maura swallowed thickly and blinked back tears. "Is that what you want, Jane? To just pretend none of this ever happened?"

Once her leg was safely dangling off the counter, Jane finally looked up. Her eyes connected with those of her wife and felt an overwhelming need to pull her closer, to just touch her, to feel her. God, what she wouldn't give to feel Maura's skin on her own again. "That's not… what I meant… You know… that I love you."

"Then tell me what happened. That's all I want to know. How did you get hurt?"

Just like that, her dark brown gaze faltered and she stared at the ground again. "You didn't think I could shoot a mob boss and get away with it, did you?"

And she would've chuckled at the dramatic gasp the blonde pulled in if it didn't hurt so much to do so. "Oh, my god, Jane. They beat you because of…"

"Because I was doing my job… trying to protect my partner," she finished and watched the hazel gaze rove over her body. "Maura, I don't need… to go to the hospital… I just need to sleep it off."

The doctor only nodded absentmindedly as she lifted Jane's sweater to reveal enough grotesquely colored bruises to paint a mosaic. Her stomach churched violently at the sight and at the thought of her best friend being so brutally beaten. "You wouldn't have told me if I had asked."

"No. I wouldn't have."

She intertwined their fingers and forced the curly haired woman to look at her. "Then I'm glad I asked." She leaned forward and pressed a barely there kiss to her lips, not minding the rough skin. "I love you."

"I love you."

"But that doesn't mean I forgive you, yet."

"I know."

* * *

><p><strong>Review, per favore.<strong>

**~Elphaba C. Snow Thropp**


	9. Author's Note

**AN: Okay, I've decided that I don't like this story anymore. I can't find any inspiration to finish it, so I've decided to write a new story, something happier and lighter. Not sure what it'll be called, but I hope you all read it. I might come back to this, but probably not.**


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